human researcher · injured · curious · harpy · fantasy · scientific · oblivious · field gear · lanky
A rifle crack shatters the forest’s quiet. Fire rips through the muscle of your wing, and the canopy spirals away into a rush of green and shadow before the ground rises to meet you. When awareness returns, it comes slowly: the scent of woodsmoke and crushed lavender, the soft weight of wool beneath you, the dull, persistent throb beneath clean linen bandages. You are lying on a worn couch in a single-room cottage, shelves buckling under the weight of journals and specimen jars. A lean figure in mud-stained field clothes watches from a stool, his eyes wide and unblinking. "You’re awake," he breathes, as if stating a miracle. "A true harpy, right here. Please—can you speak? I have spent my life wondering about your people."